Rs 500 cr worth fund-of-funds on the cards for Kerala start-ups

In a bid to enable and empower the till now lagging start-up ecosystem of Kerala, the state government is contemplating over creating a fund-of-funds and invite investors to boost young entrepreneurs of the state, according to a government official.

In this regard, the organisation aims to create a corpus of Rs 500 crore for Kerala-based start-ups over the next three years, as per media reports.

“Kerala doesn’t have large angel funds or established angel networks, so we are attracting early stage funds to invest in start-ups in the state,” said Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Saji Gopinath.

“While the government doesn’t have the expertise to invest in start-ups, it is a good idea to invest through Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) category into early-stage funds,” he added.

Venture capital funds supported by KSUM will have to invest in Kerala-based start-ups, double the proportion of the funds committed by the state government. KSUM is home to 750 plus start-ups.

After focusing and building tourism in the State, Kerala has now single-mindedly focused on building a successful start-up ecosystem. Kerala Startup Mission is a nodal agency of Government of Kerala for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state. The agency is nourishing the entrepreneurial ecosystem having on-boarded 79 incubatees, 3 investors, 8 mentors, 2 accelerators, alongwith 36 fellows, 36 applicants, 443 enquiries, 196 IEDC and 15 communities.

The state agency is also trying to garner interest from investors through events, such as the recently organised Seeding Kerala, organised in partnership with Let’s Venture, Konglo Ventures, Nasscom and TiE Kerala.